Lion Bites – Global Prophetic Alliance – Shame-less

My child, I no longer want you to carry shame like a heavy shroud. Instead, I want you to be shame-less in your pursuit of me. Be free to be unashamed of me and the gospel for it carries the power of salvation and freedom from sin and shame, for you, and the whole world. Remind yourself today that I am unashamed of you. I so delight in you that I took your shame so you no longer need to live with it.

You are free!

I am proud of you; I am your loving father who created you.

When I look at you I see my child, my beautiful and anointed one, chosen by me and forgiven. You are covered by the blood of my son. You are clean.

For too long the enemy has kept you under a blanket of shame, but In me there is no shame. Shame gnaws at your soul, telling you there is something wrong with you, that you are not good enough. But today I want you to let the truth of who you are in me burn up the lie of shame, letting the light of Christ shine from your life for everyone to see.

Activation: Ask God to show you any shame that you are carrying. You might see it as a heavy garment, or it might be affecting your heart. Ask him, and then picture yourself handing the shame over to Jesus. When you have done this, ask him what he wants you to receive in return. Spend time asking to receive more of his light, especially in the areas where you have felt shame, and let him reveal your true identity. Sit in this place until you feel the confidence of not being ashamed, enabling you to step out in a new and bold way.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.

Romans 1:16 (NIV)

14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.

15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.

16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Matthew 5:14-16 (NIV)

#lionbites

Friday Morning Scripture (Wk43/2022) – Matthew 5:13-20

Matthew 5:14 ‘You are the light of [Christ to] the world…….’

Disciples and the World

13 “You are the [1]salt of the earth; but if the salt has [2]lost its taste (purpose), how can it be made salty? It is no longer good for anything, but to be thrown out and walked on by people [when the walkways are wet and slippery].

14 “You are the light of [Christ to] the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden;

15 nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.

16 Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good deeds and moral excellence, and [recognize and honor and] glorify your Father who is in heaven.

17 “Do not think that I came to do away with or undo the [3]Law [of Moses] or the [writings of the] Prophets; I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.

18 For I assure you and most solemnly say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke[of the pen] will pass from the Law until all things [which it foreshadows] are accomplished.

19 So whoever breaks one of the least [important] of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least [important] in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever practices and teaches them, he will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

20 “For I say to you that unless your righteousness (uprightness, moral essence) is more than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 5:13-20 (AMP)

Footnotes

  1. Matthew 5:13 In ancient times salt was often used as a preservative. Similarly, followers of Christ are to preserve both the gospel message and Christian values in the secular world.
  2. Matthew 5:13 The salt from the Dead Sea contains impurities that affect its qualities as a seasoning and as a preservative.
  3. Matthew 5:17 i.e. the Pentateuch.

Friday Morning Scripture (Wk43/2022) – Romans 1:1-17

The Gospel Exalted

1 Paul, a [1]bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle (special messenger, personally chosen representative), set apart for [preaching] the [2]gospel of God [the good news of salvation],

2 which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the sacred Scriptures—

3 [the good news] regarding His Son, who, as to the flesh [His human nature], was born a descendant of David [to fulfill the covenant promises],

4 and [as to His divine nature] according to the Spirit of holiness was openly designated to be the Son of God with power [in a triumphant and miraculous way] by Hisresurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.

5 It is through Him that we have received grace and [our] apostleship to promote obedience to the faith and make disciples for His name’s sake among all the Gentiles,

6 and you also are among those who are called of Jesus Christ to belong to Him;

7 [I am writing] to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called to be saints (God’s people) and set apart for a sanctified life, [that is, set apart for God and His purpose]: Grace to you and peace [inner calm and spiritual well-being] from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith [your trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness] is being proclaimed in all the world.

9 For God, whom I serve with my spirit by preaching the gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how continuously I mention you

10 in my prayers; always pleading that somehow, by God’s will, I may now at last come to you.

11 For I long to see you so that I may share with you some spiritual gift, to strengthen and establish you;

12 that is, that we may be mutually encouraged andcomforted by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.

13 I do not want you to be unaware, [3]brothers and sisters, that many times I have planned to come to you, (and have been prevented so far) so that I may have some fruit [of my labors] among you, even as I have among the rest of the Gentiles.

14 I have a duty to perform and a debt to pay both to Greeks and to barbarians [the cultured and the uncultured], both to the wise and to the foolish.

15 So, for my part, I am ready and eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome.

16 I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation [from His wrath and punishment] to everyone who believes [in Christ as Savior], to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed, both springing from faith and leading to faith [disclosed in a way that awakens more faith]. As it is written and forever remains written, “The just and upright shall live by faith.”

Romans 1:1-17 (AMP)

Footnotes

  1. Romans 1:1 I.e. a person in bondage. One who belongs to another.
  2. Romans 1:1 In ancient Greece the word translated as “good news” or “gospel” was used to denote, among other things, success in a battle.
  3. Romans 1:13 Lit brethren, includes all born-again believers: men, women, and children.

Lion Bites – Global Prophetic Alliance – Where Is Your Identity Focused?

Do not listen to the voice of this world. This air is polluted with voices that question your identity. It is My voice that you must heed to for My words give you life leading to freedom. The lies that you choose to believe will keep you held captive. I long to set you free from any deceptions. How long will you sit in the dark places that you have chosen to believe? Do you think it will give you life? Come out of it; call Me and I will answer. Do not sit in ignorance of My truth. Do not confuse it with My love. Do not delay in changing your course. Choose wisely the direction you want to take.

Activation: Examine your lifestyle. Are there areas where you know the life that you have chosen doesn’t align with YHWH’s words? Truth is found in the Word of God. Sit with The LORD and ask Him to teach you His truth and what it looks like to live in obedience to His voice.

5 Put to death, therefore, the components of your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry.

6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience.

7 When you lived among them, you also used to walk in these ways.

8 But now you must put aside all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.

Colossians 3:5-8 (BSB)

17 And thanks be to God, for in the past you were servants of sin, but now your obedience is heart deep, and your life is being molded by truth through the teaching you are devoted to.

18 And now you celebrate your freedom from your former master—sin. You’ve left its bondage, and now God’s perfect righteousness holds power over you as his loving servants.

Romans 6:17-18 (TPT)

#lionbites

Thursday Morning Scripture (Wk43/2022) – Romans 6

Believers Are Dead to Sin, Alive to God

1 What shall we say [to all this]? Should we continue in sin and practice sin as a habit so that [God’s gift of] [1]grace may increase and overflow?

2 Certainly not! How can we, the very ones who died to sin, continue to live in it any longer?

3 Or are you ignorant of the fact that all of us who have been [2]baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?

4 We have therefore been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory and power of the Father, we too might walk habitually in newness of life [abandoning our old ways].

5 For if we have become one with Him [permanently united] in the likeness of His death, we will also certainly be [one with Him and share fully] in the likeness of His resurrection.

6 We know that our old [3]self [our human nature without the Holy Spirit] was nailed to the cross with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin.

7 For the person who has died [with Christ] has been freed from [the power of] sin.

8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live [together] with Him,

9 because we know [the self-evident truth] that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has power over Him.

10 For the death that He died, He died to sin [ending its power and paying the sinner’s debt] once and for all; and the life that He lives, He lives to [glorify] God [in unbroken fellowship with Him].

11 Even so, consider yourselves to be dead to sin [and your relationship to it broken], but alive to God [in unbroken fellowship with Him] in Christ Jesus.

12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts andpassions.

13 Do not go on offering members of your body to sin as instruments of wickedness. But offer yourselves to God [in a decisive act] as those alive [raised] from the dead [to a new life], and your members [all of your abilities—sanctified, set apart] as instruments of righteousness [yielded] to God.

14 For sin will no longer be a master over you, since you are not under Law [as slaves], but under [unmerited] grace [as recipients of God’s favor and mercy].

15 What then [are we to conclude]? Shall we sin because we are not under Law, but under [God’s] grace? Certainly not!

16 Do you not know that when you continually offer yourselves to someone to do his will, you are the slaves of the one whom you obey, either [slaves] of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness (right standing with God)?

17 But thank God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient with all your heart to the standard of teaching in which you were instructed and to which you were committed.

18 And having been set free from sin, you have become the slaves of righteousness [of conformity to God’s will and purpose].

19 I am speaking in [familiar] human terms because of your natural limitations [your spiritual immaturity]. For just as you presented your bodily members as slaves to impurity and to [moral] lawlessness, leading to further lawlessness, so now offer your members [your abilities, your talents] as slaves to righteousness, leading to [4]sanctification [that is, being set apart for God’s purpose].

20 When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness [you had no desire to conform to God’s will].

21 So what benefit did you get at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? [None!] For the outcome of those things is death!

22 But now since you have been set free from sin and have become [willing] slaves to God, you have your benefit, resulting in sanctification [being made holy and set apart for God’s purpose], and the outcome [of this] is eternal life.

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God [that is, His remarkable, overwhelming gift of grace to believers] is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 6:1-23 (AMP)

Footnotes

  1. Romans 6:1 Grace justifies believers, making them free of the guilt of sin, blameless, so that they may have eternal life.
  2. Romans 6:3 “Baptize” is a transliteration of the Greek word baptizo, which means to submerge an object into liquid. In this passage Christ becomes the liquid, metaphorically, and those who are baptized into Him remain in Him forever and benefit from His experiences, including His death. The best news is that Jesus was resurrected, so believers will also experience resurrection (those who are alive when Christ returns will experience a physical transformation). But even now believers experience a kind of resurrection in that they live new lives (as Paul says, “walk in newness of life”) in a wonderful new relationship with God and their fellow believers.
  3. Romans 6:6 Gr anthropos, i.e. man, person.
  4. Romans 6:19 There are three basic kinds of sanctification in the NT: (1) Positional sanctification is based on the death of Christ. Every believer is a saint and is holy before God. The believer is “set apart for God” and in some instances “set apart for God’s purpose” (Heb 10:10, 14, 29); (2) Practical sanctification is a progressive process and means “growing in righteous living” as the believer matures spiritually (Rom 6:13; 1 Thess 5:23; 1 Pet 1:16); (3) Ultimate sanctification is that which is to come when the believer stands before God (Eph 5:26, 27).

Thursday Morning Scripture (Wk43/2022) – Colossians 3:1-11

Put On the New Self

1 Therefore if you have been raised with Christ [to a new life, sharing in His resurrection from the dead], keep seeking the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

2 Set your mind and keep focused habitually on the things above [the heavenly things], not on things that are on the earth [which have only temporal value].

3 For you died [to this world], and your [new, real] life is hidden with Christ in God.

4 When Christ, who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

5 So put to death and deprive of power the evil longings of your earthly body [with its sensual, self-centered instincts] immorality, impurity, sinful passion, evil desire, and greed, which is [a kind of] idolatry [because it replaces your devotion to God].

6 Because of these [sinful] things the [divine] wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience [those who fail to listen and who routinely and obstinately disregard God’s precepts],

7 and in these [sinful things] you also once walked, when you were habitually living in them [without the knowledge of Christ].

8 But now rid yourselves [completely] of all these things: anger, rage, malice, slander, and obscene (abusive, filthy, vulgar) language from your mouth.

9 Do not lie to one another, for you have stripped off the old self with its evil practices,

10 and have put on the new [spiritual] self who is being continually renewed in true knowledge in the image of Him who created the new self—

11 a renewal in which there is no [distinction between] Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, [nor between nations whether] barbarian or Scythian, [nor in status whether] slave or free, but Christ is all, and in all [so believers are equal in Christ, without distinction].

Colossians 3:1-11 (AMP)

Lion Bites – Global Prophetic Alliance – Be Kind to Yourself

Can you imagine what it would look like to love yourself the way I want you to? You must take care of yourself, value yourself as my creation, and see yourself as I see you.

Hand me your expectations of yourself, the duties you have placed on your own shoulders that aren’t from me. The mistakes you chew over, the failures you refuse to forgive yourself for.

The stick with which you beat yourself – hand it to me.

I don’t want you to strive, to perform, to chase approval. You are accepted already. Lay it all down and rest in me, work from rest in me, flow from rest in me, love from rest in me.

Activation: Look at yourself in the mirror and ask God to show you what He sees, not what you see. Ask him if there are areas of self-care that you have been neglecting; ask if there is anything He wants you to lay down, or that you need to receive from Him.

13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

Psalm 139:13-14 (NIV)

17 so that Christ may dwell in your heartsthrough faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,

18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,

19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Ephesians 3:17-19 (NIV)

#lionbites

Wednesday Morning Scripture (Wk43/2022) – Psalm 139:1-18

Your precious thoughts towards me outnumber the sand on the seashores

God’s Omnipresence and Omniscience

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

1 O Lord, you have searched me [thoroughly] and have known me.

2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up [my entire life, everything I do]; You understand my thought from afar.

3 You scrutinize my path and my lying down, and You are intimately acquainted with all my ways.

4 Even before there is a word on my tongue [still unspoken], behold, O Lord, You know it all.

5 You have enclosed me behind and before, and [You have] placed Your hand upon me.

6 Such [infinite] knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high [above me], I cannot reach it.

7 Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?

8 If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead), behold, You are there.

9 If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,

10 Even there Your hand will lead me, and Your right hand will take hold of me.

11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will cover me, and the night will be the only light around me,”

12 Even the darkness is not dark to You and conceals nothing from You, but the night shines as bright as the day; Darkness and light are alike to You.

13 For You formed my innermost parts; You knit me [together] in my mother’s womb.

14 I will give thanks and praise to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well.

15 My frame was not hidden from You, when I was being formed in secret, and intricately and skillfully formed [as if embroidered with many colors] in the depths of the earth.

16 Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written the days that were appointed for me, When as yet there was not one of them [even taking shape].

17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them!

18 If I could count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with You.

Psalm 139:1-18 (AMP)

Wednesday Morning Scripture (Wk43/2022) – Ephesians 3

Paul’s Stewardship

For this reason [because I preach that you and believing Jews are joint heirs] I, Paul, am the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles—

2 assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was entrusted to me [to share with you] for your benefit;

3 and that by [divine] revelation the mystery was made known to me, as I have already written in brief.

4 By referring to this, when you read it you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ,

5 which in other generations was not disclosed to mankind, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets by the [Holy] Spirit;

6 [it is this:] that the Gentiles are now joint heirs [with the Jews] and members of the same body, and joint partakers [sharing] in the [same divine] promise in Christ Jesus through [their faith in] the good news [of salvation].

7 Of this [gospel] I was made a minister by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of His power.

8 To me, [though I am] the very least of all the saints (God’s people), this grace [which is undeserved] was graciously given, to proclaim to the Gentiles the good news of the incomprehensible riches of Christ [that spiritual wealth which no one can fully understand],

9 and to make plain [to everyone] the plan of the mystery [regarding the uniting of believing Jews and Gentiles into one body] which [until now] was kept hidden through the ages in [the mind of] God who created all things.

10 So now through the church the multifaceted wisdom of God [in all its countless aspects] might now be made known [revealing the mystery] to the [angelic] rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

11 This is in accordance with [the terms of] the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord,

12 in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him [that is, our faith gives us sufficient courage to freely and openly approach God through Christ].

13 So I ask you not to lose heart at my sufferings on your behalf, for they are your glory and honor.

14 For this reason [grasping the greatness of this plan by which Jews and Gentiles are joined together in Christ] I bow my knees [in reverence] before the Father [of our Lord Jesus Christ],

15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth [1]derives its name [God—the first and ultimate Father].

16 May He grant you out of the riches of His glory, to be strengthened and spiritually energized with power through His Spirit in your inner self, [indwelling your innermost being and personality],

17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through your faith. And may you, having been [deeply] rooted and [securely] grounded in love,

18 be fully capable of comprehending with all the saints (God’s people) the width and length and height and depth of His love [fully experiencing that amazing, endless love];

19 and [that you may come] to know [practically, through personal experience] the love of Christ which far surpasses [mere] knowledge [without experience], that you may be filled up [throughout your being] to all the fullness of God [so that you may have the richest experience of God’s presence in your lives, completely filled and flooded with God Himself].

20 Now to Him who is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly more than all that we dare ask or think [infinitely beyond our greatest prayers, hopes, or dreams], according to His power that is at work within us,

21 to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen.

Ephesians 3:1-21 (AMP)

Footnotes

  1. Ephesians 3:15 In Greek, the word for family is patria, which is derived from pater, the word for “father.” The concept of family originates with God.